Tag Archives: video

R.I.P. Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn

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Wow. Two rhythm section legends gone in a little under a month. So sad.

After having lost one of the greatest drummers in Rock & Roll history, Levon Helm, on April 19th, today I woke to find that Soul, R&B, and Rock & Roll bassist Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn has died at the age of 70.

Duck Dunn epitomized the quiet groove master bass player, having served in that role in the house band at legendary Stax Records in Memphis, Tennessee for years.

That house band, Booker T & The M.G.s, with members Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Dunn, and Al Jackson, Jr., were the backing group on most Stax recordings from 1962 (Dunn joined in ’64) through 1970, including those by Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, and Albert King, just to name a few.

Duck would continue to record and play with Booker T & The M.G.s off and on throughout his life, and the list of other musicians with whom he recorded and toured is simply unbelievable: The Blues Brothers, Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Levon Helm, Neil Young, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Guy Sebastian, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Roy Buchanan and Arthur Conley.

Back in March 2011, I wrote a post about the 60th birthday of the Fender Telecaster electric guitar, and in that post I included an old clip of Booker T & The M.G.s playing their biggest hit, Green Onions, and I just can’t think of a better video to include here in tribute to Duck Dunn.

The bass line is one of the most recognizable ever recorded, and watching Duck you see a young man who is deeply locked into the groove, feeling it in every cell of his body and throwing it down.

It’s a thing of stunning beauty!

R.I.P. Duck Dunn, and thanks for all the incredible music.

Video Fridays: Elton John

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On Wednesday, I wrote about how much I love a new retro Soul Rock band called Alabama Shakes.

Then, this morning, a friend of mine sent me a clip of a performance by someone whose music isn’t ostensibly thought of as Soul music, and yet he was one of the many great British artists of the 1960s and 1970s who, inspired by American Soul music, infused their own music with the kind of deep feeling and passionate vocal delivery that had been largely missing in pop music up to that point.

While Elton John suffered a long, slow decline into mediocrity starting around 1974, his catalog prior to that decline is some of the most beautiful, deeply felt, funky, and oh so soulful music ever.

With a simple trio — Elton on piano and vocals of course, Dee Murray on bass, Nigel Olsson on drums — and lyrics from fellow Brit and songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, there’s a series of performances from 1970 and 1971 BBC broadcasts on YouTube that are nothing short of spectacular. It’s just incredible how lush and powerful the music is with such a small ensemble. But John, seemingly with little effort, coaxes so much sound out of the massive grand piano that dwarfs him, Murray’s melodic bass lines hold down the bottom end, Olsson’s drums, loaded with subtle syncopation, hold down the rhythm, and their occasional three-part harmonies bring it all together.

Since I couldn’t pick just one, here are some of my favorites, with the last one featuring a 1972 addition to the band, guitarist Davey Johnstone on mandolin.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Alabama Shakes: Defibrillator Music

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Seriously, if you happen to suddenly experience cardiac arrest and there’s no defibrillator in sight, the next best thing would be an iPod playing the debut album, Boys & Girls by Alabama Shakes, with the volume turned all the way up.

Seriously, if you listen to Boys & Girls and still don’t have a pulse, well, you’re a zombie and have bigger problems to deal with.

As is evident from past entries I’ve posted (e.g. Post 1, Post 2, Post 3), I LOVE Soul music.

But, as I mentioned in a post from May 2010, I also love Rock & Roll music from the late 1960s through the mid 1970s.

Perfect for me, then, that Alabama Shakes plays the most delicious blend of old-school, lo-fi, passion-filled Soul Rock music that I’ve heard in a long, long time.

Out in front with a voice reminiscent of Etta James and Janis Joplin, and yet a voice all her own, is the amazing powerhouse: Brittany Howard. There are times on this record when she startles with sudden bursts of feeling, bursts that the lo-fi, analog production can barely handle, which adds a rawness that I like a lot. Give me some analog noise over squeaky clean, hyper-produced, obviously digital music any day.

Now, add Heath Fogg’s tasty hollow-body guitar licks and a spot-on rhythm section, and you’ve got the makings for some great, great music.

Here are three illustrative performances from Later with Jools Holland.

Enjoy!

Upcycling: Extreme Dryer Conversion

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One of the many things I love about upcycling is that the projects I’ve seen, as well as the few I’ve done myself (latest example), range from useful, to purely aesthetic, to simply silly and playful.

Today’s Upcycling installment clearly falls into the latter category.

Dave Haldane of Tallahassee, Florida posted the following video to YouTube, documenting his conversion of an electric clothes dryer into a ping pong ball shooter, and initially it left me feeling jealous of his engineering skills and his collection of tools.

Once I got over that, however, this project just made me happy due to its downright ingenuity and goofiness.

Tweet of the Day: @Booooooom

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Here’s a thank you shout out to Jeff Hamada (aka @Booooooom) for his tweet today, sharing a video of some animation by Masanobu Hiraoka.

I found this piece thought-provoking, an animated dream of sorts. From an aesthetic perspective, the, to me, odd color palette contributes to the uneasiness suggested in the title, and yet Hiraoka’s other animations all utilize similar color choices.

I couldn’t find any detailed bio information on Hiraoka, but it seems he’s self-taught and now rather successful. A fellow WordPress.com blogger at Idealist Junk has a great post on the animator’s work, as well as three other videos.

Anyway, without further ado…

Video Fridays: Dispelling Stereotypes of African Men

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Today’s Video Fridays installment could easily be a Tweet of the Day installment as well.

Chris Anderson, the TED curator, tweeted a wonderful and badly-needed video produced by African NGO Mama Hope.

Here’s a little something about Mama Hope:

Vision:
At Mama Hope we believe that there are enough resources in the world for every human being to live healthy, happy lives. We envision a world where resources are correctly shared across the globe to provide the tools communities need to thrive.

Through our projects Mama Hope has unlocked the potential of over 76,000 people in Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Uganda…and we are just getting started.

Mission:
Mama Hope works in close partnership with local African organizations to connect them with the resources required to transform their own communities.

All our projects are managed for and by partner communities themselves to ensure sustainability. So far, we have achieved our mission by funding the completion of schools, health clinics, children’s centers, clean water systems and food security projects.

The video is particularly noteworthy for how it takes a deadly serious subject and injects humor without diluting the message.

Shame on Hollywood for participating in the perpetuation of negative stereotypes of African men, and thank you to Mama Hope for reminding us all that there are realities beyond the movie screen.